All is fair in love and war
by chocolate-chic
Summary: She humilated him. Now he must get his revenge. But what happens when this revenge turns into something more?
1. Back home

**Hey all! Thanks for reading my story – or at least attempting it :) please keep reading it even if the first few paragraphs are boring. Interesting things are coming, and many more chapter too! Oh, and I don't own any Harry Potter stuff, it all belongs to J.K Rowling; awesome series isn't it? Anyway, please enjoy the story, and I can't wait to hear your reviews!**

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 1 – Back home**

It was a dark, stormy night when Hermione Granger got off the Hogwarts Express, leaving her to her last year of Hogwarts.

She felt sorry for the first years – their first memories of Hogwarts would be off getting drenched on their boat trip across the lake. Then Hermione's train of thought changed to her man – Chris Scheldein.

They had been dating for several months now, and still had not kissed. Hermione had no idea why. Like, she'd kissed guys before, but Chris was just too kind, and didn't want to put her in an awkward position. Or at least, that was the old reason for why he hadn't kissed her. It had changed over the past 2 weeks. During their summer break that had tried to see each other at least twice a week, but one morning when they had planned to get together at a cute little muggle coffee shop, Chris hadn't turned up. Hermione had gotten slightly annoyed, but she knew that their had to be a reason why the boy she loved had forgotten her. That night she rung his mobile and got no reply, so she tried the home phone. Chris' mother picked up. In her voice it sounded as if she had been crying for a long time, and was exhausted. Hermione asked if she could speak to Chris, and was very shocked to hear that he didn't want to speak to her. His mother reassured her that he was just upset and would come around, but Hermione hadn't been so sure. So Hermione sent Chris a text asking to meet her at the same coffee shop a few days later. Hermione had worried and worried about whether or not Chris would show, but to her relief, he did. Or at least, in the flesh; not in spirit. He acted cold and closed away from the rest of the world, and whenever Hermione asked if he was okay, he pushed her away. Hermione really felt that he just needed time, and that when he was ready to talk, he would call her. It had now been a week since that event, and they had not talked.

Hermione was still deep in thought about what her plan of action should be, when someone bumped into her, causing her to fall to the ground in pain.

"Oww! What the heck are you doing? Can't you see? Where is your curtisy?" and as she looked up, she realised who it was, and began to shiver. Draco Malfoy had just run into _her_, and in so doing touched _her_, which made her nearly puke in disgust.

"Well _So-rry_ Granger. I thought you of all people knew that you shouldn't get in **my **way," at hearing this, Hermione went berserk.

"Well sorry right back at ya, because I don't give a rat's ass about how you think the whole world revolves around you, because guess what? You are only worth a piece of skum on the bottom of my shoe, and you'll never be anything more!"

'I hate to break it to you Granger, but in reality, Mudbloods are the pieces of skum on the bottom of pure bloods shoes, so get over yourself," and with that, Malfoy lavishly walked off. That last comment hurt Hermione – it really did. It wasn't her fault she was a Mudblood. And why should it matter? It's just like racial discrimination; totally **not** cool. And the worst part was, she would be living with comments like that for the next year, as Hermione and Draco were the new head Girl and head Boy of Hogwarts, and would be sharing quarters with each other.

Luckily, when Hermione felt her heart could take no more grief, Harry, Ron and Ginny ran up behind Hermione and hugged her.

"Hermione! Where have you been? We were looking for you on the train, but couldn't find you anywhere!" exclaimed Harry.

"Oh, well, I had head stuff to do, you know?" explained Hermione, trying to say anything but what she had actually been doing. In truth, she had spent the whole ride by herself, in an empty cabin, crying about the whole Chris situation.

"Okay, so anyways, does anyone remember how long it takes to get to Hogwarts from here? I'm starving!" Ron inquired.

"Ron, do you ever think of anything but your stomach?"

"Yes, I also think of Maddy," Ron blushed as this last comment came out of his mouth unexpectedly. Since about half way through the holidays Ron had met a girl named Maddy who would be starting at Hogwarts that year in their grade, and they had really started to like each other.

"Oh, you should have seen them!" Ginny gleefully stated. "Flirting, but trying not to be obvious. Telling each other all their secrets, and man! It was so funny seeing Ron trying to find the right time to kiss her!"

"Shut up pipsqueak! I don't need the whole world hearing about my girl troubles!" Ron screamed at Ginny so angrily that Ginny started to back away.

"Okay, I won't say another word," and so she didn't, at least not straight away.

"Hey, lets go and find a carriage so that we can get back to good old Hogwarts asap – I need to talk to someone there," pushed Hermione, trying not to be obvious, but failing miserably.

"Aww, that is sooo gorgeous. Wanting to see her little Chrissy... oh, I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?" Ginny tried to finish innocently, but with fire in her eyes.

"Hey Ginny – remind me again – why are you one of my best friends?" over the summer break, Hermione had realised how much she needed a really close girl friend. Sure, she had Ron and Harry, but she couldn't talk to them about much besides their girl problems, ever since their hormones had kicked in so heavily recently. She had spent a lot of the holidays over at Ron's, but sticking to Ginny's side. What scared Hermione though, was that Ginny now knew most of Hermione's deepest secrets. At least she could mostly trust her.

"Because I am the best – now lets get moving," and so the foursome began their journey to find a carriage. But before even a minute passed, Professor McGonagall came up to the group and addressed Hermione.

"Miss Granger, could you please make your way to the Head's carriage? Mr Malfoy, you and I need to quickly chat about some of your duties as heads, and then you can make your way up to the castle," and without question, just a huge sigh, Hermione bid her friends farewell and followed Professor McGonagall to a very elaborate carriage.

"Now, Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy, please listen up. It is finally your turn to follow in the footsteps of past great heads of houses. Many amazing people were once in the position you are in now, and you must respect that. And in so doing, it means you must be so utterly responsible this year, that people will follow you and give you the respect you deserve. You both have received letters from Dumbledoree and myself about your duties, but we forgot to add one. You will be organising, with the prefects of each house, all the Dances for the year, including your graduation ball. We will need to you to work in harmony, and that brings me to my next point. I know that there is rivalry between you two, but could you please try to put it aside this year? The school needs to see harmony between it's heads," and before they even had a chance to utter a single word, Professor McGonagall walk off, yelling at some sixth years for rocking one of the carriages.

Hermione began to get into the Head's carriage, but was beaten by Malfoy, who was now lying on the only seat in the vehicle.

"Malfoy, shove, some of us actually want to get to school and learn something this year,"

"Who said I didn't want to learn anything this year? My goal is to learn how to - you know what, you probably don't want to know. Although, I can show you," sneered Malfoy.

"Well, you just keep thinking that, and I'll kick your manhood so hard that you will never be able to have kids – or worse, not be able to get it to stick up, it's so broken," and we that, Hermione grabbed Malfoy under the arms and pulled him out of the carriage, almost throwing him. Then she hopped in and told the driver to take her to Hogwarts, which he did instantly, leaving Malfoy in the dirt, back near the Hogwarts express.

"Oh, so she thinks she can get rid of me that easily? Well, she's got another thing coming – and I **am **going to get her back for what she just did," but before Malfoy could continue thinking, Professor McGonagall picked him up out of the dirt and forced him into a carriage full of Hufflepuff second years, who were all scared to be within a metre of him.


	2. La stanza di amore ed odia

**How are you all going? I hope you are enjoying the story. I know every finds this little comment things annoying, but I may as well have some fun :) I wrote this chapter really quickly – straight after the first chapter, on the same day. Sorry if the chapter are a little short, but to me, a chapter that is more that 3-6 pages just too long to write and read. **

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 2 – La stanza di amore ed odia**

As food began to appear on her plate at dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione began wondering where Chris was. She had seen him earlier, but before she had had a chance to talk to him, she had been wisked off by Professor McGonagall to meet with Professor Dumbledoree before the great feast. She scanned the hall but couldn't see him anywhere. Her head told her that he was probably just off in his room up in Griffindor tower, but her heart told her otherwise. But she would not worry about it now. At the moment, her thoughts were telling her to stop Ron from piling anymore food onto his plate, as it was already beginning to fall off the plate and onto the nice clean white table cloth on top of the Griffindor table.

After a lengthy discussion with Ron about what he was doing, Hermione began to tuck into her food. She was half way through her second roast potato when she heard all the sixth and seventh years in Slytherin house burst into laughter. As the laughter died down, people in other houses began to look away from the commotion and back to their food, but not Hermione. She listened on. Then out of Malfoy's mouth she heard her name. As she listened even harder she began to realise what he was saying about her, and her cheeks starting going crimson red. Anger began to pump through her veins and she stood up, making her way over to the Slytherine Table. As she got closer, Malfoy's talking got softer and softer until she was right next to him.

"Coming over the admire me Granger? Or just to beg for some more Malfoy?"

"Malfoy, you discusting ferret, do you even listen to yourself? In case you didn't notice, you didn't nearly bed me – I nearly put to sleep the chance of you ever putting a girl in your bed again," and once she stated this, as loudly as physically possible, she slapped Malfoy so hard across the face, that a bruise began to form fast enough for all to see.

_"My my, she is strong, but she will never win,"_ Malfoy thought to himself, as he began to pull himself off his chair at the Slytherine table. He would never admit the shame of what this girl had bestowed on him that day. But he would get her back. Draco took a quick glance around. The whole hall was watching his every movement. Before Hermione had a chance to react, Malfoy was holding onto her by the shoulders, grabbing her so hard that it felt like he was breaking her shoulders.

"Well well Granger, if you are so intent on touching my face, go ahead now," sneered Malfoy, running his hand through his hair. But this was a vital mistake on his part. For as he began to let go of one of her shoulders, Hermione took the chance and punched Malfoy smack on the nose, then kneed him so hard in the groin that he was on the floor crying for nearly ten minutes.

"That'll teach you to mess with Miss Hermione E Granger," and off walked Hermione, not caring about what the teachers would do to her for her actions.

Hermione left the Great Hall and and made her way to the Head's dorms. In the letter she had received from Professor Dumbledore, there had been a map to the Head's dorms, plus the password. After a few minutes, Hermione found her way to the room, and there before her was a portrait of a beautiful fairy in a spring time garden. As Hermione said the password "La stanza di amore ed odia" the portrait swung open to reveal a stunning room, with drapes strung in huge loops from the ceiling. There was a beautiful fireplace with a fire lit, long chairs and comfy couchs strewn everywhere in the common room and an exquisite staircase in the middle of the room, leading onto a balcony. As she looked along the balcony, she saw that on the left side, their was a door labelled "Hermione E Granger", and on the right side, a door labelled "Draco L Malfoy". The rooms were not too close to each other, but not too far apart either. Hermione could only guess that something must be between the two rooms, but it must have been a very small room, because the doors were only 4 metres apart. As she walked up the stairs, she moved her hand along the rail of the stairs. The wood was smooth and brown, freshly varnished and shiny. Once at the top of the stairs, she turned to her left and walked the short way to her room. When she entered she was even more surprised. Some how the room was rigged to her imagination, and so everything that she wanted was in there. From the outside, the room had not looked all that big – but inside, it was nearly 1 and a half times as big as the huge common room below her. "It must have an inlargement spell in it," Hermione contemplated, and continued to look around the room. In her room she was amazed by what her imagination had come up with. Her walls were a very strange colour, a kind of purply-green, but also gold and silver. There was a double king-sized bed that hung from the roof, and was about 30 centimetres off of the ground, so that the bed could swing. There was a jacuzzi, a mini kitchen, a love chair, a table, a huge walk in wardrobe full of awesome clothing she had only just seen in her latest teen magazine, and much much more. She couldn't believe her luck.

As Hermione lounged back on her swinging bed, she had an idea. Why not try out the spell that enchanted her room? She began to think of food - to be more exact, chicken and hot chips. Instantly, on the empty side of her bed, appeared a plate with chicken and hot chips on it.

"Te he he, what fun. Let's try some more, shall we?" said Hermione, and began to think of her favourite teddy bear that she had left at home. Almost straight away, her teddy fell into her arms from a large net of her favourite soft toys hanging on the roof of her room.

"Hmm, I wonder how much that roof can hold?" questioned Hermione. Hermione was bored with making new things appear, so she tried something else. As her imagination came to life, her bed gently fell from the roof, and changed into a four-poster bed, which looked like one belonging to a princess. It had pretty shiny material hanging from the sides, and it made her feel so so special.

Suddenly she remembered Chris. Hermione quickly imagined up a mobile phone and rang Chris' cell.

"Strange – his phone is off. I'll go look for Harry and see if he's seen Chris anywhere," and so Hermione left her dream land of a room and went to look for Harry. Although, without realising it, she didn't fully close her door.

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Once Draco had finally recovered from his injuries caused by Hermione, he made his way up to the Head's dorms. As he walked along tenderly, he bumped into Hermione. At the sight of him, she began laughing so hard she had to stop walking because she wasn't breathing properly. As he snarled at her, she started to walk on again, ignoring him. But Draco didn't care. He was too pissed off as it was. She had embarrassed him in front of the whole school, and even his best mate Blaise laughed at him.

"So much for friends always being there for you," muttered Draco as he reached the Head's portrait. "La stanza di amore ed odia" quoted Malfoy. He wondered why Dumbledore and McGonagall had chosen that password - 'the room of love and hates'. Well, they definitely got the the 'hates' part right. Malfoy was too tired and in too much pain to admire the common room. He just walked up to his room and collapsed on his bed.

In his room, there was nothing but the bed. You couldn't even see walls, only the door leading out of the room. Malfoy had no clue why. And the bed was so uncomfortable. Then he began to see photos appear around him, of his father beating him as a younger child, haunting him. "Why are these showing? Uh oh, is this room enchanted?" asked Draco with dread trembling in his voice.

Into his head came thoughts of a comfortable bed, since this one felt like it had nails coming through his back. Suddenly, his bed became the most comfortable bed he had ever been in, even more than his bed at Malfoy Manor. As he spread out on it, he suddenly saw a girl lying next to him. She was facing away from him, but by her hair, he could tell who it was.

"What? Why is Granger here? And why is she in my imagination?" and instead of even trying to get rid of that thought, he pushed the imagined girl off the bed, and marched out of the blank room.

He was about to leave the Head's dorms completely, and he saw that Hermione's door was slightly open. Intrigued by what was in Hermione's imagination, Draco made his way into her room. What he saw before him amazed him. He hadn't expected it. He had thought it would be all organised and neat, with only sensible things in it. But he was definitely wrong. What he saw before him was something beautiful. It was like a little girl's imagination – so pure, so innocent. With an evil idea, Draco tried to imagine her room as disgusting and full of frogs and spiders, but for some reason his imagination didn't work in her room. How very strange.

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**Hi again! Please review my story, and I'll love you forever :) also, if you picked up any mistakes in my story, like spelling or grammar or whatever, if you feel like it could you please review me telling me that? You don't have to, so don't feel forced. Enjoy the next chapter!**


	3. Surprise encounters

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 3 – Surprise encounters**

Hermione walked through the corridors of Hogwarts. She knew that everyone would be on their way to their dorms, as they had finished dinner and wanted to catch up on friends they hadn't seen in so long. So she went straight to the Griffindor tower. On the way she had felt a strange feeling – like half of her soul had disappeared for a moment or two, and then she felt pain on half of her body, like as in she had fallen on the ground. She dismissed this though, and as she entered the Griffindor common room, she was met by a huge crowd cheering her name at the sight of her. She was quite overwhelmed – but she pushed it aside, trying to find Harry, Ron or Ginny in the crowd. After a good 5 minutes, she found the people she was looking for. But what she saw before her shocked her. Sitting in Harry's lap was Ginny, kissing Harry quite passionately. Hermione had known that Ginny and Harry had had a thing the year before, but she hadn't realised that they had carried it on in secret. Sitting across from the couple, Hermione spotted Ron, frozen still. She could tell this was hard for Ron. Seeing his baby sister kissing his best friend wasn't going to be easy for him to deal with, but he would have to get over it. As Hermione walked closer to the threesome, Ron turned around and spotted her. In his eyes, she could see fear. So she decided to ask him about Chris, to at least help him forget about what he saw infront of him.

"Hey Ron, have you seen Chris? Ron... Rooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnn... RON!"

"Ha? Wha? Oh, Hermione! Um, no, I haven't. But his probably up in the boys dorms. Do you want to go check it out?"

"Am I allowed to? I thought girls weren't allowed up there,"

"Earth to Hermione – your a head now – you can't **get** in trouble,"

"Will you still come with me anyway? I don't want to go up there by myself if I do get in trouble,"

"Okay, fine, but only to get away from these two. Besides, you and Chris never do anything like_ them,_" referring to the kissing couple downstairs, "so I'm safe," and with that conversation over, they made their way up to the boys dorms. When they finally got to the seventh years' level, Hermione found the room that Chris should be in, and opened the door. As she walked in, with Ron behind, she saw Chris sitting on his bed alone, with is head facing down. When he heard the door open, Chris had snapped his head up to see who it was. But when Hermione looked at Chris' face, it scared her. And to her annoyance, Ron left the room, mumbling something about going to sleep, just in case they did get up to something.

Chris' face was all blotchy, red and tear-stained. Hermione didn't know what to do that would actually help, so she did what comes naturally to girls – going up and giving Chris a hug. As their bodies came in contact, Chris' eyes started to water again, with tears coming down faster and stronger all over Hermione's shoulder. But she didn't mind; she loved him. Chris just kept crying for a while, and when no more tears would flow, he kept holding onto Hermione as if he would die if he let go. She tried numerous times to ask what was wrong but he wasn't ready to talk.

As it got later, Hermione remembered that she really shouldn't be up in the boys dorms, and she asked if Chris wanted to come over to the Head's common room and chat, before she got caught. He agreed to this and so they secretly set off towards the opposite side of the castle.

It had taken her well over an hour but she had finally gotten the story out of Chris. On the day that they were meant to meet at the cafe, his father had popped out of the house for a carton of milk. Down at the market he met a death eater who was assigned to kill him, and the next thing Chris knew, he was fatherless and his mother was a widow.

Hermione felt so sorry for Chris. Why did it have to happen to him? Why not someone like Draco?

That night Chris stayed in the common room and slept there, while Hermione went up to bed. But all this time, without Hermione or Chris noticing, Draco had been watching the whole chain of events. He now knew how to get back at Hermione -break up her and her "little special boyfriend".

"Her freakin fridget boyfriend," added Malfoy. "If she were my girlfriend, man, our relationship would be rockin'!" and off he went to sleep, his dreams finally adding some colour to his magical room.

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Hermione woke up the next day quite cheerful. She had discovered what was wrong with Chris, and she had humiliated her arch enemy twice. Can't do much better in one day, can you? But as Hermione found her way down to the common room, dread began to drain away her happiness. What she saw before her were two lots of trouble. By themselves, they were each worth fear, but together, they were terrifying! First, a letter from Professor McGonagall; second, Malfoy and Chris were talking like they were best friends.

Hermione decided that she should deal with the easier problem first – Professor McGonagall's letter. It was bright red and Hermione could tell right away that it was a Howler, looking very similar to the Howler that Ron and Harry had received all those years ago from Mrs Weasley.

Instead of opening the Howler in front of the boys, Hermione briskly walked up the staircase and up to her room. But just before she entered her room, she remembered how it looked like there might be an extra room between her's and Malfoys. So she decided to check it out first, to try and avoid her terrifying problems for as long as possible. As she entered her room, she saw to her right a door with a shiny door knob. As she opened the door, she was amazed at what she saw before her. How had she not thought about the glories of the Head's bathroom? The bathroom, just like the bedrooms, had an enlargement spell inside it, and it was even bigger than their rooms! It was huge – especially the bath tub. It was bigger than a swimming pool; and it even had a drink cooler so that you could have a party in there.

As Hermione looked from the bath tub to the Howler in her hand, she came up with an ingenious idea, since she didn't want the whole left-hand side of the castle to hear the Howler. First she water proofed the howler, then she made her hearing perfect for other than air situations. Her head slowly made a decent to under the waters of the tub and the Howler followed. Under the water, Hermione opened the Howler.

"MISS GRANGER! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE HEAD BOY LIKE YOU DID! I KNOW YOU AND MR MALFOY HAVE HAD YOUR PROBLEMS IN THE PAST, BUT NOW IS THE TIME TO GET OVER IT AND START ACTING LIKE THE RESPONSIBLE ADULT YOU ARE SOON TO BECOME! PLEASE REPORT TO MY OFFICE ASAP," and as the dreaded Howler curled up and burned (even though it was in water), and Hermione pulled her head out of the water, she sighed and went on her way to fix her next problem.

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Draco and Chris had been talking for over an hour before Hermione had woken up. Their conversation had started with Malfoy sneaking up and scaring Chris.

"Oi! What was that for? I've never done anything to you before, so leave me alone!"

"Exactly right. You've never done anything to me, which means that we can be friends,"

"Excuse me? Friends? Are you nuts? And do you ever listen to yourself?"

"Wow, you've really been spending too much time with Granger; your beginning to sound a lot like her,"

"How would you know? All you do is throw insults at her which she doesn't deserve,"

"Doesn't mean I don't know how to treat a lady of her persuasion, and how to get in her good books – I've just never bothered to try out my cunning skills on her, since I don't go for her type,"

"What, the smart type? I could never imagine you with a girl that has an IQ over 1 digit long – too hard to get girls with a brain into bed, right?"

"Look, do you want help or not with making Hermione fall in love with you?"

"It depends – what will it cost me?"

"Only to be allowed to talk to Hermione,"

"There must be something more in it for you. Your a skeemer, and skeemers don't just want to be able to talk to a guy's girlfriend, when he could easily do it without permission,"

"I'm just asking to talk to her, and that's it. I'm also mainly helping you because since this year is going to be so stressful, if she don't loose her stress some how, I might get blamed for killing her when her head pops off!"

"Okay, you have my permission. Now lets hear this advice," and so Malfoy started getting into details on how to bag Hermione's love. Or at least that's what Chris thought.

After Hermione had gotten out of bed, grabbed the Howler and left the room, Malfoy finished his conversation with Chris.

"So, do you really think that your plan will work?"

"Umm, hello, that swarming mass of hot girls ain't there for decoration; believe me, it'll work,"

"It better, otherwise I will bash you into a pulp," and off walked Chris, out of the Head's common room, to set into action Draco's plan.

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As Hermione came down the stairs, she saw that her boyfriend was no longer talking to Malfoy; he wasn't even in the room. But she was glad – now she had an excuse to yell at Malfoy. As she came closer to Draco, words began flowing out of her mouth before she could control it. Shouting, Hermione said,

"Draco, what the hell are you doing talking to MY boyfriend about? You two aren't even friends, and you hate Griffindors as it is!"

"Well, that has changed today. And why aren't I allowed to talk to your boyfriend? I just wanted to get to know him better so I would know if I would have to worry about staying awake all night by the sound of you two doing it till your hearts content, or whether his a fridget ass. It seems he is the latter,"

"You are such filth Malfoy, you know that? I wish you'd go to hell!"

"Too late, sunshine, but I've already been there before, and it looks better than you do with a wet head like right now," Hermione had completely forgotten about putting her head in the water of the bath upstairs, so she quickly hit her hair with a drying spell, and flounced off. But before leaving, she stated with a mono tone voice,

"You better get changed and kick your sorry ass downstairs to breakfast fast, cos we have classes in less than twenty minutes," and with that said, Hermione left the common room and Draco's cursing behind her as she made her way to the Great Hall.


	4. Action is taken

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 4 – Action is taken**

At breakfast that morning, Harry and Ginny were starring at each other, shooting love rays from one to another's eyes.

_"They are just so perfect for each other," _thought Hermione as she sat down at the Griffindor table.

"So how is everyone this morning?" asked Hermione, trying to forget about how much she hated Draco.

"Hungry," blubbered Ron, as he was trying to shovel food down his throat and talk at the same time.

"We're good," stated Harry in an airy voice, still looking deeply into Ginny's eyes.

"Oh for christ's sake, please just kiss each other and stop the puke feast we have to watch!" screamed Ron, not wanting them at all to kiss each other, or at least infront of him.

"Okay, thanks for understanding Ron," Ginny practically sang and Ginny and Harry went in for the smooch. Instantly Ron's head turned away, and faced Hermione's.

"So how are you and Chris?"

"We're great in fact. I now know what is wrong with him, and we can totally deal with it – our relationship is just so strong."

"Well good for you. Just to let you know, I found Maddy," Ron proudly puffed up his chest, trying to look buff. "And guess what – at the welcome back ball, we are going to go together!"

"Oh, congrats Ron! I am so proud! Wait, you didn't do anything stupid, like faint or try to hold her hand and end up holding her elbow?"

"Nope, just fell onto her when I found her," blushed Ron.

"Well for some reason, I don't think she minded," giggled Hermione. Ron and Hermione began to get into deep conversation, but before long, they were interrupted by someone tapping Hermione's shoulder. As Hermione turned around, she saw her gorgeous boyfriend standing infront of her. He was very tall, but taller than her – by at least a foot. He was the cutest boy Hermione had ever seen and she was glad that he was hers.

"Hey Chris! What's up?"

"Can I talk to you Hermione?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Like, alone,"

"Umm, okay," said Hermione and bid Ron farewell. As Chris let Hermione away, she felt him grab her hand. It shocked Hermione. He had NEVER done that before. The only close contact they had ever had was last night when she gave him a hug. Once they had reached the Great Hall's entrance, Hermione said,

"Hey, can we talk on our way up to the Head's dorm? I left my books for our first class up there,"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead sweetie," Chris sweetly said. Hermione was starting to freak out now. This was not normal Chris like behaviour. He had always either called her Hermione or Mione, but not 'sweetie'. And why was he holding her hand? Not that she didn't mind – it was about time he make a move, but this was not normal Chris. As they found their way to the Head's room, they talked and held hands, but their conversation was more flirtatious than it had ever been. When they reached their destination, Hermione quickly slipped into the room, grabbed her book and came back out. But as she left the room, she was greeted by a kiss on the cheek and off they continued till they got to Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

_"uh oh – now I have to face her,"_ thought Hermione, and as she entered the class, she gave Chris a quick peck on the cheek and he went off to his next class, happy as can be.

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After class Hermione received quite a lashing by words. Professor McGonagall just couldn't get it through her head why Hermione had done what she had done to Malfoy. In the end Hermione was told that she had received a warning, but next time would loose the privilege of the imagination room.

As Hermione stormed out of the room she ran into Chris. He was just as shocked as she was, but tried not to let it on.

"May I escort this young beautiful maiden to lunch?" asked Chris, as poshly as he could.

"Why yes, you may young man. And how fine you do look in your robes," joked Hermione, trying to join his game. They then began to laugh hysterically as they made their way to the Great Hall. When they were about two minutes away from reaching the huge wooden doors of the hall, Hermione asked a question that had been on her mind for the past 3 hours.

"Chris, I don't mean to be mean or cruel, but why are you acting like you have been today? Don't get me wrong, I really like this new side of you, but I have to know where this came from," Hermione looking away, not wanting to see any sadness in his eyes. But as they stopped walking, Chris softly grabbed Hermione's chin and turned her towards him.

"I'm glad you like this side of me. Let's just say I had a bit of help from an unlikely person," Hermione hung her arms around Chris' head and questioned,

"Is this unlikely person Draco?"

"Why, how did you guess?"

"Just do me one favour – please don't turn into him," they giggled and began pashing each other in a crazy manor. Sadly for the couple they heard footsteps coming their way, so they had to pull apart. They continued the walk to lunch and as they sat down together for the first time that school year, Chris gave Hermione a peck on the cheek. Hermione was about to go in for another passionate kiss, when Chris turned away, sipping on his glass of water and ice. Then Chris grabbed Hermione's chin again and pulled her in for the kiss she longed for. As soon as his tongue entered her mouth, she felt something very cold enter her mouth. Chris started playing with it with his tongue, and Hermione realised that it was an ice cube.

_"wow, that's hot. Well, cool technically,"_ and they continued the kiss until the ice cube completely melted in their warm mouths. As they pulled away, Hermione saw 3 certain people staring at her and Chris in utter disbelief – Ginny, Harry and Ron.

"What the heck was that?" squealed Ginny with utter excitement in her voice.

"Exactly what you've been doing with Harry, just with an interest twist," said Hermione, fire in her eyes.

"Right on Chris! No offense, it's just that you've never even given her a peck on the cheek. I'm proud of you," exclaimed Harry, offering his props to Chris who gladly excepted.

Hermione felt on top of the world. True, she had just had a horrible time with Professor McGonagall, but hey, kissing your boyfriend for the first time, especially when you've been waiting for more than a few months makes you feel so wonderful and beautiful at the same time.

That night as Hermione was sitting in the common room of the Head's dorms, she saw Draco come through the portrait door. He look a quick glance at Hermione, then continued on his way to the stairs.

"Wait Malfoy," Hermione said.

"What do you want Granger?"

"Just to say thank you for what you taught Chris; we both really appreciate it," Hermione told Draco, with a tone in her voice which proved to Draco that she really meant it.

"Umm, your welcome I guess."

"By the way, I had a thought. Why don't we try to become friends? I know that you don't want to, but isn't it better to be friends than enemies who loose Head's privileges over small fights?"

"Well least I can control myself when out in public – I'm in no danger of losing privileges,"

"Please Malfoy? Besides, we have to plan the Winter Dance soon, and we will need to be civil towards each other, instead of sending daggers,"

"Fine, but we will only be civil – okay? Happy now?"

"Thanks Malfoy," Hermione smiled. "And thanks again for how you helped out Chris. Draco grunted and walked off leaving Hermione in totally bliss. Maybe this year wouldn't be all that bad with Malfoy!


	5. The fun begins

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 5 – The fun begins**

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It had been two weeks since school began, and Draco and Hermione now had to start planning out the Winter Dance. True, it wasn't for another few weeks, but they had to organise food, decorations, fliers, and helpers. At least the two of them had already figured out one of their problems – the helpers. All the Prefects and Heads of the school had to patrol the halls at night. It was obvious that the Prefects hated this job, as they always ended up having to do it with someone they hated from another house. So Hermione had thought of a cunning plan. Why not Draco and herself offer to take the Prefects patrolling duties for a few weeks, and then exchange that for help? When Draco had heard this plan, he at first disagreed, but then realised it was their best bet.

Over the past few weeks Draco and Hermione had become friends. Orginially they had just tolerated each other – it had been hard at times especially for Draco, because he had to stop calling her mudblood and other horrible names – but they had gotten through the worst of it.

The best part of Hermione and Draco being friends was how they were able to do Head duties so much quicker. For example, this dance. Normally it would take a month to plan everything out, but within a week, the whole shindig was figured out. When it came to decorations, the twosome had decided on some pretty awesome ideas. One of their main features would be snow flakes which would fall down from the roof, but after 2 seconds on a surface, the snowflake would disappear, so that people woul not be slipping on them while dancing. And for the first time ever, Hermione and Draco got some muggle entertainment to come and perform at the dance. It had been hard for them to find spells to make the performers think that they were just performing at a muggle school dance, but after a day of searching through the library, Hermione had finally come across a spell that would be perfect. Now all Hermione and Draco had to do was find outfits, set up the hall on the day and relax.

Things were going extremely well with Chris and Hermione as well. Not only were they in love, but they couldn't get enough of each other. Although, it had nearly gotten too far, way too many times. And Hermione may have gone through with doing it with Chris, but she knew that she wasn't ready yet. The couple had made a very quick transition from talking and being more like friends than girlfriend and boyfriend, to being a mostly physical, kissing couple.

Life was going so well for Hermione, she just couldn't believe it. And life became even more interesting one day when Ginny burst into the Head's common room, looking dead from a long run from the front of the school all the way to the Head's dorms. As soon as Ginny had her breath back, she spoke so fast that Hermione couldn't understand her. After coxing her to slow down, Ginny said,

"Guess what Mione – this Saturday we can go to Hogsmeade! And do you want to hear even better news? The Three Broomsticks is holding a teen night club that very night! Do you want to go with me? Please, come on, you know you want to. It's dress up and everything. Oh, and you have to wear a mask. It's all to do with being fair to all the unfortunate girls and guys who can't get dates – that way, if no one knows who anyone is, no one will be rejected! Please say you'll come!"

"One question – is it a girl's night out for us to enjoy ourselves, or are we inviting the boys along as well?"

"Do you even need me to answer that question Mione? Of course it'll just be the two of us. The boys see too much of us anyways. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a guys night either!" and so in their guilt-less manner, the girls got ready to have a fun night of flirting and dancing in less than 5 days time.

All week they had anxiously been waiting for their party time to come. Hermione had come up with an awesome idea. Instead of paying for new outfits, why not just imagine some clothes in her enchanted room? After a while of trial and error, Hermione had figured out that if some else was in the room, and wanted to imagine up something, all that had to happen was for the two people to imagine something at the same time. When Saturday night finally came, The girls got together to start getting ready. Hermione and Ginny both started trying to figure out their dream outfits, but Ginny wasn't happy.

"Hermione, why are you just wearing a boring black long sleeve top and jeans? You know what? I am going to imagine an outfit for you" Hermione didn't really like this idea. Knowing Ginny, it would be a very revealing dress that she would never ever wear, even for her future spouse. But she let Ginny go through with the plan, because she knew that if she didn't, Hermione would never hear the end of this argument.

Happily Ginny set her imagination wild. After a few minutes of thought, she finally came up with the perfect outfit. First long, black, zip-up stiletto boots. Then, a mini skirt. Yes, a white mini. Next came the shirt. It was a very tight halter neck, bright red in colour. As Ginny added finishing touches to the outfit, such as jewellery and a baret, she imagined the clothes onto Hermione and before her stood the finished product.

"Now that is H.O.T.!"

"Isn't it a bit too revealing? Okay, well, a lot too revealing? And how about my mask?"

"Hermione, get a life! Have some fun! And besides, don't you want to have so carefree fun without your boyfriend staring at your boobs all night long?"

"Umm, earth to Ginny – every guy in the place will be starring at my boobs!"

"Not as much as your bum," stated Ginny as innocently as she could.

"Thanks for those words of encouragement," Hermione sarcastically said, and she began to walk off to the bathroom.

"Wait! Your right, I still need to imagine up a mask for you," Ginny screamed out.

"Nah, it's alright – I've just decided to make up my own mask," and within a minute, Hermione was wearing the most gorgeous mask either girl could ever hope to see. It was red, to match her shirt, and it was shiny. There were little, thin streaks of colour going from the eyes out which looked like waves rolling. From the mask came the beautiful smell of Hermione's favourite perfume. Underneath the mask red make-up followed out from the mask making the mask look like it covered more of her face than in really did – but not too far. There were little sequins near Hermione's eyes, and in general, her face looked just gorgeous.

Although, without the mask, Hermione looked pretty stunning in her own right. Over the past seven years, Hermione had grown from a small, not super pretty book worm to a beautiful, graceful, modestly smart girl which any guy would be lucky to date. It shocked Hermione how many guys now paid attention to her.

Once Ginny was ready, the girls left the head room and went down to the front doors to wait for a carriage to take them to Hogmeade. But as they were leaving, a certain boy was entering.

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Draco had just walked back to school from a day at Hogsmeade. Man that day had sucked. Some guys were paying him out about how Hermione had creamed him a few weeks before, and even though his plan to get back at Hermione was in motion, he still was not happy by how the guys were treating him. As he entered Hogwarts, all he wanted to do was go back to the Head's room and sleep off the bad day. But as he walked through the heavy wooden doors, he saw Hermione and Ginny walking towards him, and what a sight he was treated to. He knew Hermione was beautiful, but he never ever wanted to admit it. As Hermione and Ginny walked past Draco felt lust towards Hermione. He couldn't help himself. He wanted to hurt her for what she had done to him, but he wanted her to be his more so at this moment. But then his thoughts came back to him.

"Draco, what are you doing? You HATE Hermione. I mean Granger. Oh, why did she have to be so nice recently? And why don't I hate her? Arghh!" but suddenly came to his ears a conversation from Hermione and Ginny.

"Oh Hermione, I just can't wait to get to the Three Broomsticks! This is going to be so much fun! I've never been to a dance club before,"

"Yeah, neither have I, but I've heard so much about them, and it's so nice to be allowed to flirt with other boys for just one night,"

"You got that right. Well, we have plenty of time – the thing doesn't start for another hour. Maybe we should wait here a little longer,"

"Nah, lets just go – then we get to meet guys sooner," giggled Hermione and Ginny and off to the newly arrived carriage they walked.

"Oh, I have to go to that club and dance with her – I just need to get close to her. Besides, when ever is she going to dress like **that** again? Wait, why do I keep thinking of her this way? Oh, love gods of the sky, please keep me away from her and towards other hot girls," and so Draco ran to the Head Dorms to get ready.

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**Aww, I feel so special – 3 people have reviewed my story! At least I know a few people are enjoying my work; yay! So, will Draco make it to the party? Ans what will happen if he gets there? Well, you'll have to stay tuned in for another few days to see the outcome!**


	6. Forbidden dance

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 6 – Forbidden dance**

"Man this party is a drag," complained Ginny for the seventh time that night.

"Ginny; have some patience, like I'm having with you right now. The party isn't even meant to start for another quarter of an hour,"

"Well, still, I wish that there were some interesting guys here,"

"Don't worry – cool guys come fashionably late. Or at least that's their excuse," Hermione stated with as straight a face as possible. But Ginny couldn't help but laugh.

Just at that moment, in walked two guys. The way they walked and talked, it was as if they commanded attention to them. Within seconds every girl in the room was looking at them – and every girl was being looked back at. The main boy out of the two stopped for a second, with the second boy following in suit. The first ran his hand through his bleach blonde hair, then he nodded and walked with the second straight towards two unsuspecting girls.

"And how are you lovely ladies this evening? Ready to party?" asked the first.

"Well I certainly am!" squealed Ginny, a little too happily.

"Then you are certainly in luck, as my friend and I are looking for partners to dance with tonight, and we thought we would ask you two first," at this comment Hermione got weak at the knees. She didn't know what to do. All she wanted to do was dance with this totally handsome guy (or at least from what she could tell with the mask in the way), but her body had different ideas. It felt like it was going to collapse. And to Hermione's dread, she did.

As quick as lightning the first man captured Hermione under the arms just before she hit the floor; then he pulled her up to him and held her in his arms.

"Well I guess I will be dancing with you then," he said with a smirk in his voice. For some reason Hermione felt like she knew this boy, especially his voice. But she was too shaken up by her nearly painful crash to think clearly.

"Umm, sure, why not?" said Hermione, trying not to sound to keen. In the background she heard Ginny's sigh sadly, but quickly the second man spoke to her.

"Will you do me the pleasure of dancing with me? I know you may have had your heart set on my friend, but I can be charming too," stated the second, his voice full of mystery. Once hearing this, Ginny giggled and agreed to dance, but Hermione felt she knew this boy as well. _"Well, as long as she enjoys herself"_ thought Hermione to herself _"And anyway, she needs some space from Harry. I think they've been spending so much time together they are starting to fall away from each other." _

After a short while of flirtatious chat, Hermione, Ginny and their partners heard music start playing. During their conversations Hermione had asked the boys their names, and with some deliberation, they said their names were Zach and Toby.

"Hey, Hermione, lets get onto the dance floor and show these novices how to dance," said the mysterious Zach

"Umm, maybe in a minute. I'm not a very good dancer, you know,"

"Oh, never mind that – I can make you a good dancer in less than one minute," said Zach, as if desperate to dance.

"How about the next dance? Then we have like another 3 minutes to get to know each other. Sound fair?"

"Okay, as long as we can go get a drink; I don't want us to get thirsty while dancing the night away," and so the couple walked over the bar to order drinks, while everyone else danced. As the song came to a close, Hermione finished her lemonade and Zach threw out his beer bottle.

"Ready to dance now?"

"Well, I guess it's better to face your fears than to run away," and so Zach pulled Hermione onto the floor, next to Ginny and Toby.

There had been pop and RnB music playing for a bit over half an hour. The foursome were enjoying themselves immensely, but Hermione was still a bit shy with her dancing. Ginny was throwing out all the big moves with Toby she had even kissed Toby on the cheek. _"Uh oh,"_ thought Hermione, but she was soon distracted by Zach and the catchy music.

Out of nowhere, Latin music began to play. Hermione was saddened by this – she had just gotten the hang of one dance style (well, sort of), and now had to move to another. But before she had much time to think, her partner had her right hand clasped in his left, and her left hand posed on his shoulder. They were now facing each other, and Hermione's heart beat was rising steadily. But none so much as when Zach placed his hand precariously low on her hip, almost touching her ass. Over the speakers came the DJ's voice, and the music stopped.

"Yo yo yo my peeps! Now is the time for those serious couples to do your thang in the Tango. All those who don't know the Tango, get ready to see the dance of forbidden love played before your eyes. Peace out!"

Hermione's heart was screaming out. She shouldn't be dancing the Tango with a stranger – and what about Chris? But it was too late. Her partner was shuffling her into the middle of the dance floor, telling her to just follow him and add a little bit of passion, flavour and fire. _"Oh great, that'll be easy with someone I don't know,"_ Hermione thought to herself, but let him go through with the dance anyway.

As the music began to play again, Hermione looked up into her partners eyes. There, before her, was passion – spreading from his eyes to Hermione's, tingles running up and down her spine. What was this feeling? And was it right that she wanted to feel more of it, and never let go of it? Hermione couldn't pull her eyes away from this strangers eyes. As they began to dance, whenever they swivelled and were no longer looking at each other, all Hermione wanted to do was to pull his face towards hers so that she could keep staring in the the silvery pools that were mirrors of this man's soul.

After going through a few basic moves, Hermione had the basic drift of the dance. Out of nowhere came skill she had never had before, and soon enough, only Hermione and Zach where left on the floor. Bu they didn't even notice.

The couple kept up the intensity between them, with spins, dips and swivels following the beat, violins playing in the background. The music felt like it was old Spanish music, from movies like Zorro, made for those who wish to express their souls through movement. As the intimacy grew and grew with every guitar stroke, the image of Chris was gone from Hermione's mind, and only thoughts of this mysterious man were left behind. She was afraid of what might become of this dance, but she couldn't help herself, and only wanted to keep up this way of expression. This man brought out the best in her; she had to find out who he was. But not now. Tonight she would have this dance and that was it. It felt like this dance, the Tango, was made just for her and him to experience, and she let it run on and on till in finally concluded.

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_'Ha, tonights skeem has worked out well, very well indeed. Wait; what the hell am I doing? I hate this girl! Why am I dancing with her, and why am I so attracted to her. Come on, get your head in the game mate! Oh, and how I wish to kiss those beautiful lips... arghh! Stop it, stop it!!' _Malfoy's thoughts were confusing him; and it was very strange indeed. Why did he have such a lust for Granger of all people?

As soon as that first guitar stroke was played, Draco knew the Tango was coming up. Man he was looking forward to this dance. Not only did he get to control her every move, but he got to check out every move her body made. Draco could tell she was uncomfortable with dancing the Tango with a 'stranger', but with one of Draco's sexy looks of lust, she was like putty in his hands.

At first she didn't do all that well; but in less than 30 seconds she was a better dancer than the dance king himself, who had taken years of ballroom dance lessons in his youth. '_hmm, this could get interesting,'_ Draco thought, and got her to do a series of hard moves that even he couldn't do without a professionals help. After a while he just let the music move them however it like. Meanwhile, Draco saw it in Hermione's eyes – passion, lust and fire. '_Oh, what she and I could do with these emotions – wait, stop thinking like this. Oh, I'll just give in this one time.'_ They continued their strange dance for what seemed like an eternity, the lust in each of their hearts getting better control over them quicker and quicker until the music ended their dance.

As Draco spun Hermione at arms length out away from him and bowed, Hermione curtsied and they were met by clapping and cheering from the crowd. As the cheering died down and couples came back onto the floor, Hermione was about to let go of Draco's hand when he spun her into him again and said,

"Where the hell did you learn to dance like that?"

"Right here, with you. You could make a really good dance teacher one day," stated Hermione with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, I'm chuffed, but I don't really have the time at the moment, since I have my own classes to attend to at Hogwarts. Hey, do you feel like doing this again next weekend? The Three Broomsticks manager says that they are going to try having this club open 3 or 4 times a month,"

"Okay, sure. What have I got to loose?"

"Your innocence," Draco sneered, with a humorous tone.

"Ha ha. Man, I lost that years ago,"

"Really?" questioned Draco. He didn't know that. "So you don't mind dirty?"

"Nope,"

"Then let's go make all the guys out there on the floor jealous that I get to dance with such a beauty like you," '_Draco, what are you saying? Never mind, it's just one night - it's okay. No it's not! She's a mudblood! Yes it is, it's fine. Besides, it will help with your plan anyway. Have some fun.'_

Hermione giggled in agreement with the statement spoken aloud, and pulled Draco out onto the floor. '_Wow, it's amazing how she hasn't figured out yet that it's me. I guess it means the mask is doing it's required job though. But it's funny how she thinks a guy like me would have the name Zach,'_

After a song of getting used to being back in the RnB beat, Hermione and Draco began their show. It started with Draco walking around Hermione, staring her down. She 'ignored' him, then ran to him, arms up and palms open, crashing into Draco's chest. Then Draco spun her around and twirled her away from him. After that he came close to her and slung his arm around her shoulders, fingers playing with her bra strap. Hermione put her leg around Draco's body and he dipped Hermione low to the ground. As he brought his face down close to her face as if ready to kiss her, his eyes wondered down her body along her chest, his spare hand 'stepping' along the path of his eyes. Suddenly he pulled her up and she slid through his legs and out the other side. Hermione jumped up, placed a hand on his shoulder and began to strut around Draco, other hand on hip. Then once back in front of Draco, she put her hand on his face in a caring way, and without warning, slapped him lightly on the cheek. She turned around to walk away, when he slapped her on the ass. Hermione twirled back around in shock and once Draco and her eyes locked, something happened inside of Draco. Out of nowhere, Draco ran up to Hermione and caught her in a kiss, his hands holding her face as if he never wanted to let go. At first Hermione just sat there, not sure what to do. Then her hands made their way up to his head and started kissing back into Draco as she played with his hair. As the kiss continued, feelings were felt by each. Hate, love, lust and more where experienced, and they didn't want to finish this memory, but keep it going forever. Their tongues, battling like they were in a sword fight, wouldn't give up.

Finally, Draco beat Hermione out of pure luck, licked her lips and walked over to the bar. And that was the last thing Hermione remembered of that night, as she fell to floor unconscious.

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	7. Laughs, tears, joy and pain

**Hey everyone! Sorry, this chapter is a bit longer the rest – usually the rest are like 6 pages long on my word processor, but this one is over 10 pages! It's just I couldn't find a suitable place to stop. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 7 – Laughs, tears, joy and pain**

"Hermiiiiiiiione; Hermiiiiiiiiiiiiiione; Hermione?" Hermione heard as she began to wake up. Standing over her she saw Ginny with concern on her face.

"Mione, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, what time is it? And where are we? Why aren't we at the Three Broomsticks still? And where did he go?"

"It's Sunday and it's very early in the morning. We are in the Hospital Wing because after your steamy kiss with your hot 'friend', you fell to the ground in a fainting spell. And don't worry – your new boo is still gonna meet you at whatever you planned with him. He said something about next weekend at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Oh, Ginny, I must of fainted from utter happiness. Hey, can you keep a secret? I think I'm in love,"

"Hermione, I hate to break it to you, especially since you only just woke up, but first of all, you barely know the guy; and second, what about Chris?"

"Oh my gosh, Ginny, what have I done? I mean, I nearly gave myself to him! It was that look in his eyes – all I wanted was him, and that kiss was just magic. But things were going so well with Chris! Sure, he's been pushing my buttons for the past week, trying to get me to sleep with him – and what's really weird is that he's beginning to act like Draco, just when Draco is starting to become like Chris! And you know what? It's really creepy – Draco hasn't had a single girl in the common room for 3 days straight. Do you reckon Chris and Draco are both sick? Or maybe swapped minds? Or..."

"Hey, Hermione; relax! Take a deep breath with me now. Breathe in – yes that's good; now breathe out. Okay, here's what I think you need to do – after breakfast later this morning, you need to go talk to Chris. Obviously he's got the wrong idea and you need to set him straight. I mean, come on, your not his girlfriend just to be his toy – your his girlfriend because he loves you, and you mostly love him, so talk with him,"

"Yeah, but what about Zach? As even you said, I don't fully love Chris anymore – Zach now has part of my heart."

"Simple. Meet up with him again when you guys planned. Then do what you did last night and see if you still feel the same way,"

"But I feel guilty about last night. I should never have gone; now I've cheated on my boyfriend, and it's all because of you!" shouted Hermione, getting all worked up and angry.

"Umm, I'm sorry, what did I just hear? I asked you to come, yes, but I didn't force you. And did you enjoy yourself last night? The obvious answer is yes, so maybe this is telling you something – maybe Chris isn't the one for you. Maybe it's our mystery man Zach,"

'Maybe your right,"

"Of course I'm right – I'm never wrong,"

"So true," and both girls began to laugh uncontrollably, until Mrs Pomprey walked into Hermione's cubicle.

"Okay, stop the laughing – there are some seriously ill people here, who need their rest, and obviously Miss Granger, your better. So can you two please get out of here before you wake everyone up? Oh, and Miss Granger, could you please be sure to come back here at a more reasonable hour today and I'll just check that your fine?"

"Yes Mrs Pomprey," giggled Hermione, and off walked Hermione and Ginny, arm in arm.

As they left the Hospital Wing, their giggling ceased and their conversation came back up.

"Hey, you never asked me about how Toby and I went," stated Ginny, crossing her arms infront of her, pretending to be like a small mad child.

"Oh, does someone need to feel special? Sure, let's hear about your night. Oh, and did you want to spend the night with me? I'd don't think I can get to sleep for another few hours anyways,"

"Okay, sure. So back to my story. Toby and I were having heaps of fun dancing the night away last night that, out of the blue, he asked me out! Of course I said yes, and so our first 'date' is going to be breakfast this morning,"

"Ginny, did you forget something? Or even someone? Aren't you and Harry dating?"

"Snap, yes! Dude, what am I gonna do? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep them apart,"

"Wait; what? Ginny, are your honestly going to date two people, at the same school, in the same grade, at the same time?"

"Yeah. I can't see any other way out of it,"

"Oh Ginny, you really do make me wonder why your so loved by all,"

"Neh, I wonder the same thing," and the two friends walked off to the Head's common room for a night (or morning) of gossip.

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After Draco left Hermione once completing the kiss, he sat down at the bar and ordered another beer. Suddenly Draco felt a hand clap onto his shoulder and he turned around to discover that it was Blaise.

"Draco, mate, good job. I have never seen anything like that before. And who could have known that Hermione was such a good kisser?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh come on chap, tell me; what was the kiss like for you? It looked pretty amazing. And, of course, your the one who started the kiss,"

"Blaise, are you deaf? I told you, I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine, but tell me this. Why did you send a charm on her so that she would faint? Ginny and I were having an awesome time but then when Hermione fainted she ran off to see if she was okay. They really are good friends, aren't they?"

"Let me as you something Blaise: Do you really want to know why I did that? Or are you just trying to strike up conversation?"

"A bit of both,"

"Fine. But if you tell another living or non living soul about this, I will have to kill you and your whole extended family,"

"Ouch! Don't worry, I ain't tellin no-one. Now spill the beans,"

"Well, we were dancing, right? And suddenly, I feel that urge to kiss her, and so I do. It's not till she starts kissing back that I realised what I'm doing, and I thought, heck, why the hell not? Then I can screw with her head more later. But when I tried to stop, I just couldn't. Why Blaise? Why did I have to kiss stupid Granger? Once the kiss finally ended, I just had to get away, you know? So I caused her to faint. That's it. That's my story,"

"Aww, that's so beautiful," Blaise said with sarcasm in his voice. "But why did you have to get away? It doesn't make sense. If you can kiss her like that, why can't you and her be something more? Ginny and I are now,"

"Okay, listen mate. I ain't going to talk about this stuff here, with a hundred or two people surrounding us. Do you want to come back to the common room tonight and we'll talk there? Oh, and don't forget – your new girlfriend already has a boyfriend – Potter," sneered Draco, proud that he had burst is friend's bubble for once.

"Oh, shit! That ain't cool. I never had a real reason to hate Potter, but now; well, when I'm done with him, there won't be much of a hero left in him,"

"Hey, I'm going to go talk to Ginny about something before she takes Hermione back to school. Did you want to come talk to her even though your all screwed up?"

"Yeah, but now I'm all upset. Thanks a lot for crushing my dreams Draco," and so Draco and Blaise made their way over to the girls.

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As the girls made their way down the corridor that led to the Head's common room, they heard shouting coming from the fore mentioned place.

"Uh oh, you better hurry in there and stop Draco from killing whoever he is shouting at," Ginny suggested.

"Why not you? You've got more confidence and control than I do,"

"Liar. Besides, you know how to control him. Remember yesterday morning?"

Hermione did – in the main hall Hermione heard Draco teasing a girl from Hufflepuff because she had her hair up in pig tails. Hermione had charged in and defended her against him, and after a simple hex that she placed on him, she had him under control for a minute or two, and even got him to apologies to the poor second year.

"Okay, wish me luck," sighed Hermione, but before she could quote the password to the portrait and continued into the room, she heard something interesting coming from within. As she stopped in front of the door the eavesdrop, Ginny also came to listen behind Hermione.

"I DO NOT LOVE HER!!!!!! GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK ASS HEAD! IT WAS JUST A SLIGHT ATTRACTION. NOTHING MORE, OKAY? NOW STOP BUGGIN ME ABOUT IT!!"

Then they heard another voice from inside, but they couldn't understand him. As they leaned in closer to the door, they heard,

"... Then why did you kiss her the way you did?"

"I don't know! I mean, come on, I can't always have control over my testosterone! Bloody Hell! WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS WITH SOMEONE LIKE YOU???"

"Because I am the only person you can trust with your secrets,"

"Erk, and I hate that!" Then, behind Hermione, she heard Ginny sneeze. _"Uh oh,"_ thought Hermione, and then she heard from inside the room,

"Wait! What was that? Blaise, I think someone's listening in on us. I'll be right back," instantly Hermione placed an invisibility spell and silencing spell over Ginny and Herself. Once her pinky toe and the rest of her was covered, Out walked Draco, face red in anger.

"Come on out whoever you are. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you except kill you!" but luckily for the girls, Draco had left the portrait door open, and so as Draco began looking around the corridor, they slipped into the room without being noticed.

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"Wow, that was close," exhaled Ginny once they entered Hermione's room.

"Yeah, too close. What if he _had_ caught us? We would be dead by now!"

"Oh, he's all talk and no action; nothing to worry about."

"I'm not so sure," but Hermione pushed these thoughts into the back of her head, and without her choosing, thoughts of the listened in conversation came to the front of her mind. Who was this girl that Draco liked, or 'had an attraction' to? Now Hermione had a goal to achieve – find out who this girl was and screw up his chances with her. Sure, Draco and Hermione were now friends and even had some decent conversations about any topic, but she still didn't want him to have a girlfriend. Who knows what they would be doing together, and Hermione didn't want any sleepless nights because they were 'getting it on'.

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When breakfast time finally came, both the girls and the guys were very tired. They had been up all night talking to their respective friends, and now was the time for them to take into action their different plans. But as they tried to leave the Head's dorms, they all bumped into each other. With disgruntled shoves and pushes, they were all standing up and straightening out their clothes. Since it was still the weekend, they could wear whatever they liked, and so the girls decided to wear cute little outfits that would have the boys attentions, but not have boys all over them. On the other hand, the boys were wearing jeans and button down shirts, which showed a lot of muscle. As Hermione and Ginny were opening the portrait door to leave, Hermione looked back and saw Draco looking at her. Recently, whenever their eyes met Hermione would see that instead of hard eyes which would shut in emotion, she would see soft eyes with a smile in them. _"It's so strange," _thought Hermione. _"But I guess it's nice in a way." _ As Hermione was about to look back at the door, something caught her eye. Draco's body. _"Man, how often does he work out? He is looking go-od! Wait, what am I thinking? We are just friends. Good friends. Nothing more," _ and so Hermione went back to the door and opened it, leaving with Ginny and the boys close behind.

As they got down to breakfast, Hermione saw someone and instantly felt guilt. Chris. Wanting to look anywhere but at him, she looked up at the enchanted roof. The roof of course showed what the sky outside looked like, and today it was sunny but you could tell that it would start raining later in the day. After staring at the roof for a minute or two, Ginny was about to dragged Hermione over to the Griffindor table, when Professor Dumbledore stepped in front of the pair.

"Good morning Professor," Hermione said, trying the best to put a smile on her face.

"Good morning to you both," replied Dumbledore. "Miss Weasley, I was wondering if I could please borrow your friend Miss Granger for a moment or two,"

"Sure," shrugged Ginny and walked over to Harry. Once she was gone, Dumbledore started to pull Hermione out of the hall with him. As they reached outside the doors, Dumbledore kept pulling Hermione up to a place Hermione had never been in the castle. The professor said a password and they began to walk up some stairs that appeared before them. Once they reached the top, Hermione realised that this was Dumbledore's office. It was amazing – Hermione wished that she had more reasons to be in this office at a later date, but alas, she could think of none.

"Miss Granger, may I call you Hermione? Please take a seat,"

"Professor Dumbledore, we have been through this before – you may certainly call me Hermione,"

"Thank you, and please, call me Albus,"

"So what is this about, Albus?"

"I have some bad news for you Hermione; some very bad news. I wish I didn't need to tell you, but I am sure you would find out eventually, so it is better to hear it now,"

"What is it Professor?" said Hermione, fear filling her whole being.

"It's your mother, Hermione. Last night she was killed by Lord Voldemort."

Hermione froze in shock. Soon utter despair consumed her mind, and she started to cry.

"Wwww-why?" asked Hermione, too shaken up to say more.

"Because Lord Voldemort wants to kill the heart of the one witch in the world who could cause his death. Don't get me wrong – there is still Harry and Ron, who are also destined to do away with Voldemort, but you will play such a strong part in his down coming that it might as well have been you who killed Voldemort,"

"But if my heart is broken, how am I meant to be of any use?"

"You use the heart break and turn it against him. Don't forget Miss Granger, your heart may be broken once, and you may feel it forever, but your heart will be broken many times over the years, and you just have to deal with it,"

"Thank you for telling me professor,"

"That's alright Hermione; and don't forget, you can talk to me anytime. Just say my name and I will hear you. Oh, and take some candy with you," And with that said, Hermione made her way out of Dumbledore's office, to go eat some breakfast.

As she was sitting down to eat, Hermione was trying to cover up her tears. She didn't want to cry in front of her friends – she only wanted to cry with Chris. But something distracted her. Ginny was talking to someone with a mask on! Lucky for Ginny, Harry was no where in sight, and so when the boy in the mask asked Ginny to come talk with him, she of course agreed.

Once Ginny was gone, Hermione was all by herself. Most people had left breakfast by now, but she had only just started. As she was about to have her first bite of toast, someone tapped her on the shoulder. To her delight and horror it was Chris. Without using words, Hermione could tell that Chris knew she was upset. As he grabbed her hand and asked her to come with him outside, Hermione instantly agreed like Ginny had, and they began to walk outside.

Once they were sitting beside the lake, Chris asked the question Hermione was expecting:

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing,"

"Come on baby, tell me," said Chris, gathering her in his arms, hugging her from behind. Then the tears began to fall heavily from her eyes. Hermione cried and cried and cried and after half a minute Chris sighed impatiently.

"Now tell me Hermione – what's wrong? I have things I have to do today,"

'Well so-rry for holding you up then,"sniffled Hermione.

"Come on, you know it's not like that. But please, just spit it out,"

"No. Your being an asshole. Not to mention, you've been one for the whole week,"

"You know, I have an idea on how to make you happy and to remember how much you like me..." smirked Chris, looking up and down at Hermione in her tightish outfit.

"CHRIS! I AM HAVING AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS AND ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS SEX! WHAT THE HELL! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD CHRIS? THE ONE WHO LOVED ME FOR WHO I AM, NOT FOR WHAT HE WANTS ME TO BE?"

"Hey, cool it mudblood," said Chris, and then realising what he had just said, tried to cover it up, but before he had a chance, Hermione was standing up and leaving. But so that he wouldn't have the last word, Hermione told Chris one last thing.

"You know Chris, to you, I may just be a toy and a little mudblood, but from now on, to everyone, you will be plain muck, not worth a thing, because you have just become your own worst enemy," and off walked Hermione without looking back.

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Hermione was forced to go back into the Great Hall, because she had left her mobile phone in there when she had tried to call her dad. She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. She didn't want anyone to see her crying. And who knew who would be still eating breakfast and see her? In the end she had no choice. As she walked into the Great Hall, she began to calm down a bit, just lightly sobbing. She walked over to where she had been sitting and found her phone. Before she left she tried checking her messages and found that her dad had just messaged her, telling her more information on her mother's death. Then her self control was gone. Her full on tears were back and she ran up to the heads room to cry in private, luckily not running into anyone along the way.

Little did she know that Draco was still eating breakfast with Blaise. He couldn't stop thinking about Hermione. About their dance. About their kiss. Oh, why was life so cruel? Draco and Blaise were in deep conversation when Draco heard sniffling enter the Great Hall. _"Great, another pathetic first year who lost his teddy. At least I get to tease him,"_ and so he looked towards the location of the sniffles. But instead of a young student he saw the girl who was controlling his mind. He was intrigued. Why was she crying? And why did he care? Sure, they were friends, but he was still Draco, and he was still out to get her for how she had embarrassed him on the first day back.

Without realising it, Draco had not be participating in his and Blaise's conversation. He only noticed when Blaise was practically shouting at him.

"Yo, what's up with you man? What's more interesting than hearing about my love life?"

"What? Oh nothing. Well, actually, you know, anything is more interesting than your love life,"

"Ha ha. No, come one. Seriously, what's distracting you?"

"Her," said Draco, pointing at Hermione.

"Aww, that's so sweet. You can't stop thinking about her. Wow, I never thought I would see your mind fixed on Hermione,"

"Shut up fool! Can't you see? She's upset!" and once he completed his last word, Hermione burst into tears and ran off. Without thinking, Draco ran after her, wanting to find out what was wrong. _"Boy, what is wrong with me? Why do I care? She's just a mudblood – just stupid smart ass Granger,"_ But he still continued on after her until he reached the Head's dorms. As he walked into the common room, he found Hermione sitting in front of the fire place, crying. _"Wow," _Draco observed. _"Even when she's upset, she's beautiful."_ Cautiously Draco walked up to Hermione and sat next to her. But she didn't even notice; she was crying too hard. Without his approval, his arms wrapped around Hermione's body, hugging her.

Hermione didn't know who she was hugging, but she didn't care at the moment. All she wanted to do was cry and then die. First, her mother, whom she had always loved and was one of her best friends had died, and second, her boyfriend had broken her heart because he only wanted to use her. Hermione felt like she could take not more of the world. She just wanted it all to end. After crying for over 5 minutes, she could cry no more – her body wouldn't let her. She just sat there hugging whoever it was she was hugging. All she could tell was that this person was a guy. He was so warm. So muscular.

All the while Draco kept holding her. He stroked her back like his mother used to do when he was younger, whenever Draco was beat up by his father. He had loved his mother so dearly – she was the only person who had really ever cared for him when he was a young child. He knew what pain felt like, and he could tell Hermione was going though a lot of pain, whatever it was. So he stayed where he was, providing safety while stroking her back and running his hand through her hair. As she had grown older, her hair had turned from a huge mess of curls to beautiful loose curls, which hit the light in any position. Once she had stopped crying, and had stopped shaking, Draco pulled her away from him just enough so that he could look into her eyes.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

"Oh Draco, why are you here? And why are you comforting me? It doesn't make sense,"

"Because we are friends, and friends help each other through the hard times," but in his head, Draco realised something. He really did like her, as more than just a friend. He realised he just wanted to keep her in his arms forever and ever and always be there for her. But he knew that he couldn't. She would never let him; because he had treated her so badly over the past 6 years, she would never be able to get past those bad times.

"So what's up?"

"You don't want to know. I just needed someone to cry with, so thank you for coping with me,"

"Hey! I do so want to know, otherwise I wouldn't have asked what's wrong. And besides, you can't keep problems bottled up inside of you – otherwise you may explode, and we don't want that to happen, do we?" joked Draco, trying to make Hermione happy.

Hermione nuzzled her head into his shoulder and mumbled something. Draco couldn't hear her so she spoke louder.

"When I got to breakfast this morning, Professor Dumbledore took me to his office and told me my mother is dead, and was killed by Voldemort. Then, when Chris tries to comfort me, he is still trying to pressure me into sex, and doesn't care that I'm upset. I realised that he only wanted to use me, so I dump him. And now my heart is broken twice in one day, and I feel like ending it all."

"Wait wait wait. I am NOT going to let you end it all. That is the easy way out, but the dumb way out. What would the world do if it's greatest witch was gone? No, you need to survive, and I know you will. Because you are strong. You may not realise it yet, but I know you are. I mean, come on, it's obvious that Chris has tried to lay you a million times this week, and you were strong enough to stand your ground and say no. And I know lots of people who totally respect you for that, me included,"

"Thanks Draco, you are such a good friend. I'm really glad that we have become friends this year. I could tell that you did have a nice side of you somewhere, but I just never knew if I would every get to see it," and with that she fell back onto him and cried a little more. Draco felt so bad. True, his plan to ruin her relationship with Chris had gone perfectly, but he didn't really think through how badly it would affect Hermione. Worst still, the climax of his plan was just after her mother died. Maybe one day he would tell Hermione that it was his fault that Chris was how is now – but not for a long time. Once she had finished crying, Draco made a suggestion.

"How about we have a day in, and we can watch some movies and just lie around near the fire. Besides, it looks like it's gonna rain soon anyway," It was true – Hermione had predicted it right that the clouds would soon cover the sky.

"Okay, as long as we have junk food,"

"Affirmative. What movies would you like to see?" and with that their movie day began. They watched movies from all kinds of different genres – chick flicks, sci fi, drama, romance, action, comedy, and horror. The horror movie was Draco's favourite movie – Hermione got so scared that he had to comfort her, holding her very close to him during the scary parts. The best part of all though was that a thunderstorm started half way through the day, so they sat on the same couch to keep more warmth between them – and also because Hermione was utterly scared of thunderstorms. A few people tried to visit the two of them, but they wouldn't let anyone in – this was their day to relax and have good company.

That night, as the time reached nearly midnight, Hermione was asleep across Draco's lap. He was stroking her hair again, and as the last movie ended, he lifted her up and took her up to her room. But he faced a problem – he didn't know her password, so in the end, he had to take her up to his room. He careful tucked her into his bed, imagined up bouquets of flowers covering the whole room except for the bed and door, and lightly kissed her on the lips in a loving way. Then he quietly walked out of his room and collapsed onto the couch.

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**So a lot happened in this chapter, didn't it? Friendship, trickery, death, break-ups, gossip, and more! Sorry if it moved along too quickly. I just didn't want you guys getting bored with the story, and half of the story would have been in a separate chapter, but I just couldn't figure out how to split it all up and to still make sense. Oh well, so three major things happened in one chapter. I hope that keeps you guys happy for a few more days since I can't write more this weekend cos of work. Please review and stay tuned! Also, if you review, I'll leave you a message telling you when the next chapter comes out! Love yiz, Grace.**


	8. Living in strange times

**Happy Christmas and New Year! Yeah, I know I'm late, but I've had issues with getting onto the computer and typing up the story. Hope you enjoy! And, who knows? The next chapter may be up in the next few days. You'll just have to add me to your story alerts! Lol. **

**Love yiz all, Grace.**

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**All is fair in love and war**

a story written by Grace Robin

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**Chapter 8 – Living in strange times**

Hermione woke up from her sleep well rested. Man, she had enjoyed that day. No pressure from anyone to do something or be something, just a chance for her to be herself with a friend who expected nothing from her.

Hermione knew that she couldn't just sit around for the rest of the day. She had to get up, because breakfast in the Great Hall was starting in less than 10 minutes. As she slowly opened her eyes, she was shocked by what she saw around her. Flowers? What was this? Was her imagination trying to cheer her up? As she tried to imagine some chocolates up so that she had some energy food for the day, she found out she couldn't. _"How strange,"_ thought Hermione. She thought she may as well try again, but it still didn't work. Then as she looked around, she saw things that were surrounded by the flowers, but were obviously not hers. Weights, drawers, mirrors, photos and more.

Then it hit her like a bolt of lightning – "THIS IS DRACO MALFOY'S ROOM!" she shouted, then covered her mouth in fear. "_Oh no – did I do something horrible and unimaginable with him? Did I have sex last night with my ex-arch enemy? Oh my god; this is not good – not good at all," _as she scrambled out of the bed, she quickly rushed out of the room, leaving behind a messy bed and some trod-on flowers.

Once out of the room, she tip-toed down the stairs, being as quiet as possible. She looked around the room and saw a boy sleeping on the couch. She went over to investigate who it was. There, sleep on the couch was Draco. Hermione was about to walk away when something caught her eye – he was only wearing boxers. Before her, she saw the Slytherine sex god, half naked, and his muscles were definitely chiseled. Hermione leaned over to get a better look when without looking where she was stepping, she stepped on an empty bag of potato chips. As the bag crinkled, Hermione tried her best to make her foot make less sound when she took it off the bag, but to no such luck. With haste she began to lightly run up to her room, when the sleeping boy woke up and yelled out "HALT!" Of course, she halted straight away in fear, and as she turned around to look back at the boy, the boy looked back at her.

"Hi," said Hermione.

"Hi," replied Draco.

"Thank you for yesterday,"

"No worries,"

"Hey, I was just wondering, was there any certain reason I was sleeping up in your room?"

"Because you fell asleep half way through the last movie – which I don't blame you for, cos it was pretty boring - and so I had to carry you up to my bed since I couldn't get into your room," Hermione mentally sighed a breathe of relief. Although for some reason, the thought of sleeping with him still stuck in her mind.

"Oh, well, thanks for letting my steal your bed for the night,"

"It's fine. Now, do you feel ready to face the world today and kick Chris' ass?"

"No, not really,"

"Well, look. I'll help you, okay? It'll be alright. And if it gets all too much for you, we can always talk. Are we agreed?"

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely,"

"Absolutely and truely? I can be annoying at times,"

"You don't think I've noticed? And I am sure,"

"Thank you so much. It appears I owe you a lot,"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll find you a way to repay me,"

"Uh oh,"

"You don't trust me?" laughed Draco and Hermione joined in. Without conscious thought though, Hermione looked down at her watch and saw what the time was.

"Hey! Breakfast is about to start without us!"

"Oh no it's not – quick – go get changed into your uniform, and we will get down to breakfast in time,"

"You're my stomachs life saver,"

"I know, now get your ass up to your room and change," and so she did. Thirty seconds later she was back down the stairs, and there waiting for her was a fully dressed Draco, looking pretty damn good, even if he did have to wear uniform. Although, not as good as how he looked less than five minutes earlier.

As Hermione and Draco entered the Great Hall, all eyes were on them. No one had ever seen them stand together and not fight. There had been rumors had they were becoming friends, but not a single person in the school believed that rumor except for Ginny. Not even Harry and Ron believed. As the couple walked into the room, people kept their gaze on the two. Even more so when they both sat together at the Griffindor table. People wouldn't stop starring. What was this? Were these two tricking them? Of course, the answer was no. As Draco and Hermione started forking food onto their plates, Ron couldn't take it anymore.

"What the bloody hell is going on? Malfoy, get away from Hermione, and us as well! What do you think you are doing? And why don't you girls seem to care at all that he's sitting with us?"

"Oh Ron, get over it. They are the two Head's of the school. And they have head stuff they need to take care of. Right Hermione?"

"Wha? Oh, yeah, of course, duh. Why else would I let this toad near me?"

"Fine, but if I see him even lay a finger on you, I will have to kill him,"

"Oh, your afraid that I'll steal your one true love away from you? Gosh, and I thought you had a girlfriend," when Maddy, who was sitting next to Ron heard this, she stood up, slapped Ron across the face and walked off to her friends.

"Thanks a lot Hermione – now I've lost my girlfriend because of your 'need to talk to Malfoy'. Don't you think you could have left your chat till tonight in the Head's common room?" spat Ron with such anger boiling up within him that his face and ears began turning beetroot red. Then he too stood up and walked after Maddy, trying to apologies while still keeping his pride.

"Well, that was fun," state Harry sarcastically. "So, now Malfoy, I think this is your cue to leave,"

"Sorry Potter, I can't; McGonagall is watching," and Draco pointed to where the fore-told teacher was staring with eyes wide open at the shock of two head's of school actually wanting to be near each other for the first time in years.

"Fine, then I'm off. Sorry girls, but I can't stand being around Voldemort's next right hand man," and Harry stood, remembering to take his plate of half finished food with him, and sat next to Neville, who was trying to turn his water into red cordial unsuccessfully.

A short while later, after conversation and enjoying their food, Draco spoke up.

"Mademoiselle Hermione, I must now escort you to our next class. Au revoir mademoiselle Ginny, and a bientôt,"

"What? What does 'A bientôt' mean?"

"'see you soon',"

"Ahh, got it. See yiz later!"

"Let's go," and that's how their morning began.

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After a morning of classes sitting next to each other, Hermione and Draco made their way down to lunch. Over the past few hours it appeared that Ron and Harry refused to speak to Hermione. Also, people couldn't stop staring at the couple, just like at breakfast. And to top it all off, all the teachers they had for classes that morning told the two of them that they had to see Dumbledore because obviously there must be something psychologically wrong with them. This just made Hermione laugh. Was it really that strange for them to be hanging out? Who was she kidding – of course it was. But she and Malfoy were friends now. And the best part of the morning so far was when Hermione was feeling upset about her mother just before their first class ended, Draco used his magic to create a invisible box of chocolates for her, with a small deep red rose sitting on top of the it.

Once the twosome were back in the hall for lunch, trouble came towards them.

"Draco, please get away from my girlfriend. I've been told that you've been clinging to her like a lion to his food,"

"Get it through your head Scheldein – you ain't her boyfriend no more,"

"Oh, and what? You are?"

"No, but I'm here to protect her from scum like you,"

"Wow, Malfoy; fancy you protecting my girlfriend. No wonder why everyone thinks your sick or something – have you checked your temperature recently?"

"Chris, stop. I dumped you, okay? Get over your fat ass self, because you ain't getting me back. I've raised my standards,"

"Oh poor little Hermione. You must be sick as well! Don't worry, I've lowered my standards just enough to be with you,"

"Ouch, that was a great line to use when your trying to get back the girl you want," mumbled Draco.

"What did you just say fool?"

"Why, nothing Scheldein; although I think Hermione has something to say to you," and as soon as Chris was facing Hermione, he received firstly, a punch in the nose; secondly, a slap across the cheek; and thirdly, a kick in the balls – basically what happened to Draco a few weeks earlier, but with more damage. With as much venom in her voice as she could muster, Hermione spat out:

"Well, for you Chris, your love making standards have definitely gone down the tube – pity you never got a go at shagging someone, cos you'll never be able to again. And now, I bid you goodbye forever, because I never want to see your bastard face again," and as Hermione and Draco walked away, all Chris could get out through his pain, was:

"Oh, you will see my face again, and be mine – whether you like it or not,"

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It had been over a month, and no matter how hard Hermione tried, she couldn't stop thinking of her mother's death. All she wanted to do was get past the horrible ordeal. But now her mind had other ideas – she wanted revenge. _"Oh, I will get Voldemort one day – and he will pay." _

Besides this, life continued on as normal for the rest of the school. Although, the school winter dance was only a few days away, and both Hermione and Draco still didn't have dates. Over the past few weeks they had been madly preparing the dance, taking over Prefect duties so that they could 'pay' the prefects to help them set up decorations, organising menus with house elves, setting up different live bands to come and play, and much more.

They had also be spending time on another project – their secret meetings at the Night Club. Draco felt himself falling more and more in love every day and week that went by, but every Saturday night the love and lust in his heart consumed him and his thoughts while dancing with this girl who went by the name Hermione.

Hermione still only knew very basics about this guy she had been dancing with – his name (or at least the name he used), that he went to Hogwarts, and that he was a seventh year. Hermione had tried on many occasions to learn more about the guy she thought about all week long, but he would never say more. Funnier still, she had never met a guy in her grade at Hogwarts with the name Zach, except for Zach Ficklestein, who whenever he saw Hermione, couldn't utter a word he was so in love with Hermione. She had thought for a little while it might be him, but it didn't seem right – her Zach was cool, had grace, and certainly wasn't afraid to speak to her. As her and Zach's meetings became more numerous, Hermione couldn't keep her thoughts off of him, even in class. It was as if he was a disease that rotted out her brain.

As Hermione and Draco sat quietly in front of the fireplace in their common room, a question lept from Hermione's lips.

"Hey Draco,"

"Yes Granger?"

"Have you ever heard of a Zach in our grade, who wasn't Zach Ficklestein?"

"Sorry, I can't say I have,"

"Oh, well, thanks anyway,"

"Hey Hermione,"

"Yes Malfoy?"

"Why do you want to know about a 'Zach'? Ooooooo! Does the great Hermione Granger have a crush on someone?"

"Erk, no. Besides, it's none of your business,"

"Come on man, your business is my business now-a-days. I mean, who have you been going to recently to spill out your thoughts to, or get advice from?"

"Hello? Is there a brain in there? This is girl stuff – the kind of stuff I would talk to Ginny about, and certainly not you. Knowing you, your probably going to talk to him, even though you say you don't know of him, or spread around the school what I would say about him,"

"Oh get over it Hermione. We are friends now. So tell me about Zach,"

"Okay, as long as you promise you will never tell anyone what I am about to say,"

"Yeah, whatever," said Draco impatiently; he wanted to hear what Hermione thought about his second half.

"Well, where do I start? He's charming, funny, an amazingly good dancer, and has great hair," _"Yay! She likes my hair! If only she knew how much I work on my hair just for her,"_ thought Draco.

"What else?"

"This is where it gets awkward," stated Hermione, the awkwardness obvious in her voice.

"Oh, just spit it out; you know you want to,"

"Fine. I think I love him, okay? Or maybe I just lust after him – but I can't stop thinking about him at all. It must be that twinkle in his eye – it's as if he loves me too – or maybe he just wants me, you know, like..."

"Yeah, I understand,"

"And I don't know what to do; he's just so hansom. I wish I knew what he fully looked like though," Draco was so ecstatic – the girl he loved, loved him back. But she didn't love him – no, she loved this mysterious man, who had never been mean or cruel to her.

"Where did you meet this guy? And why don't you know what he looks like?"

"Well, you see, the Three Broomsticks has a teen night club every Saturday night, and you have to wear a mask, to make it fair for everyone to get a date for the night,"

"That sounds like fun,"

"You should come sometime – I have a feeling that you and Zach could be good friends – your so alike. Except I think it might be weird to dance with you like I dance with Zach; you know, after all we've been through," and there were the heart crushing words themselves. Oh, how he wished he could turn back the conversation so that he would never have to hear what she just said. How it hurt his weak heart. He had never really loved anyone before – only his mother. He had never really loved his friends, or even any of the girls he had been 'associated' with. But Hermione was different – he definitely loved her.

He had decided on that a few weeks earlier. How could it possibly not be love when you would willingly give up anything for a person, even if it's your life? How could it not be love when you thought of only them, all day, all night. How could it not be love if when you were near them, your heart beat faster and faster until you were afraid you were going to have a heart attack? How could it not be love if you only ever wanted to stay with this person, holding them forever, till point of death?

"Yo Draco, you still here? I just spilt out my heart to you, and you just go silent. How's that meant to make a girl think? I knew this would be too awkward to talk about,"

"Wha? Oh, look. Do you want some advice?"

"YES! ANYTHING!"

"Tell him how you feel – then ask him how he feels,"

"But I hardly know the guy. I've only ever danced with him, and he won't tell me anything about his life for some reason. I just wish I knew him better,"

"Believe me, you know him very well," mumbled Draco to himself.

"What?"

"Never mind. Hey, to take your mind of this whole Zach problem, do you want to go to the dance with me on Saturday night?"

"Your asking me out? Wow. Hey, this is just as friends, right?"

"Yeah, sure,"

"Okay, then lets do it," and so they were agreed, and saved for each other to dance with.

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As the days grew longer and longer with winter leaping upon them sooner then they would have liked, Hogwarts began to prepare for the winter dance coming up in several hours time. The dance was scheduled for 6:30 – 11:30pm, and an extra hour for 6th and 7th years. When Hermione woke up that Friday morning and looked at her clock, she groaned when she saw the time.

"10:30????? Great, that's just great. I couldn't get to sleep till 4:40 this morning because of that stupid Zach, and now I'm late for class. Wait a sec – of course! I forgot; Dumbledore gave prefects and heads the day off today to set up decorations for the dance. Oh crap – we were meant to meet at 9! I hope Draco started without me, otherwise we are never going to be finished in time!"

Quickly, Hermione changed into skinny black jeans and a cute little t-shirt, and then walked off towards the Great Hall. But as she walked along the long empty corridors that filled her school, thoughts from last night that kept her awake came floating back to her, and refused to leave. Thoughts about her and Draco's friendship. Draco had been treating Hermione really rather kindly over the past term. And Hermione really wasn't sure why. Maybe it was a very late (or early) New Year's revolution? Whatever it was, there seemed like there must be something more happening in their relationship than Hermione would like to admit. Ever since Draco had asked her to the dance, he had been very happy and estatic around Hogwarts, freaking out many of the Slytherines and Grythindors alike. And with this joy came a thought into Hermione's brain – did Draco Lucius Malfoy like Hermione Anne Granger as more than a friend? They had agreed their 'date' was just as a friend to friend event. But it seemed like so much more.

Hermione had also been thinking of her own reaction to Draco's request. Since then she had been singing whenever she was alone (which was a good thing since she wasn't a very good singer), and bringing Draco up in many of her conversations with Ginny. Hermione also suspected that Ginny thought that Hermione liked Draco. But how could she like that man? She had loathed him for years and years, yet now she was like best buddies with him.

And what about Zach? Hermione felt as though she loved the man, yet she knew nothing about him. And Hermione could not put herself through liking two men at the same time – again. If only she knew more about this Zach person. Then she could stop thinking about ego-head Draco.

"_Erk, brain overload. Need to get to Great Hall and work for the dance tonight. Plus figure out an excuse for sleeping in," _thought Hermione, and she pushed away all thoughts that did not include excuses of lateness.

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**Please review me or add me to your story alerts! Don't feel pressured 2, but I would love it if you would! Peace out till next time, Grace.**


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